Spring 2018 - CMNS 349 E100
Environment, Media and Communication (4)
Class Number: 11588
Delivery Method: In Person
Overview
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Course Times + Location:
Jan 3 – Apr 10, 2018: Mon, 5:30–8:20 p.m.
Vancouver
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Instructor:
Shane Gunster
sgunster@sfu.ca
1 778 782-6916 (Burnaby)
Office: K-9670
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Prerequisites:
60 units, including at least one upper division course in CMNS, DIAL, EVSC, GEOG or BlSC.
Description
CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:
An examination of how media, culture and communication shape public opinion and behaviour about environmental issues such as global warming, (un)sustainable resource use and pollution, with special attention to the impact of practices such as advertising, public relations, science and risk communication, journalism and advocacy communication upon public discourse about the environment, and the role of dialogue and deliberation in mediating and resolving conflict over environmental issues. Students with credit for CMNS 388 (in Summer 2010, Spring 2011, or Summer 2012) may not take this course for further credit.
COURSE DETAILS:
Overview:
What role do different forms of media and culture play in raising (or suppressing) public awareness about key environmental issues such as climate change, (un)sustainable resource use, or the pollution of social and natural spaces? How do different social, economic and political actors (e.g., corporations, governments, environmental groups) talk about the environment in different ways, depending upon their economic, political and/or cultural objectives? Is ‘green consumerism’ an oxymoron? What opinions do the public hold about environmental issues, and how are they influenced and represented? What communicative practices and principles are necessary in order to encourage and facilitate public debate, dialogue and deliberation on environmental politics and policies? What role does communication play in environmental advocacy and activism? In this course, we will explore these questions by investigating some of the many ways in which we use different media to represent and communicate about the natural environment.
Our core textbook will be Robert Cox’s Environmental Communication and the Public Sphere (5th edition). The principal topics and themes to be covered include: conceptualizing environmental communication; green consumerism and corporate public relations campaigns; motivating sustainable behavioural change; science and risk communication; news coverage of environmental issues; public opinion and knowledge of environmental issues; environmental advocacy; communication and environmental justice; and dialogue, deliberation and political mobilization.
Geoff Dembicki’s Are We Screwed? How A New Generation is Fighting to Survive Climate Change will be used as a supplementary text. A B.C.-based journalist who has written extensively for The Tyee (and other publications), Dembicki uses the profiles of socially and politically engaged millennials to explore different facets of how people are – both individually and collectively – taking action to address climate change.
Grading
- To be confirmed in the first class.
- Tutorial Attendance and Participation 20%
- In-Class Writing/Discussion Exercises 10%
- Reading Commentaries (on Are We Screwed?) 10%
- Research Essay/Project:
- (a) Proposal (Due Feb. 19) 5%
- (b) Essay/Project (Due March 19) 30%
- Take-Home Final Exam (Due April 12) 25%
NOTES:
A minimum 2.25 CMNS GPA and 2.00 overall CGPA, and approval as a communication student is required for entry into most communication upper division courses.
The school expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices with respect to both levels and distribution of grades. In addition, The School will follow Policy S10.01 with respect to Academic Integrity, and Policies S10.02, S10.03 and S10.04 as regards Student Discipline. [Note: as of May 1, 2009, the previous T10 series of policies covering Intellectual Honesty (T10.02) and Academic Discipline (T10.03) have been replaced with the new S10 series of policies.]
Materials
REQUIRED READING:
Pezzulo, Phaedra C. and Robert Cox, Environmental Communication and the Public Sphere (5th edition). Thousand Oaks, Sage, 2017. [Paperback].
(It is also acceptable to use the 3rd or 4th editions.)
ISBN: 9781506363592
Dembicki, Geoff, Are We Screwed? How a New Generation is Fighting to Survive Climate Change. Bloomsbury, NY, 2017. [Hardcover]. (Note: the e-version is considerably cheaper than the hardcover.)
ISBN: 9781632864819
Registrar Notes:
SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://students.sfu.ca/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.
Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS